The main show airs live on DDT UNIVERSE on Sunday 20th August at 3:00pm JST, 7:00am GMT, 2:00am ET and Saturday 11:00pm PT.

I was a guest on the Burning Spirits podcast this week to preview the show. The episode can be heard here.

Now that the 20 year celebrations are mostly done with it’s time to return to Neverland for DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017”! A lot has happened since Saitama Super Arena. DDT went viral for their portrayal of Donald Trump (even getting featured on @midnight), for having a Battle Royal on a moving train and for booking the Tokyo Dome for an Empty Arena Match. We’ve had the new generation establishing themselves in the main event and even got one to reveal his entire tragic life story because he believed it was all the champion’s fault.

So what’s in store for Sumo Hall this time? The show is headlined by the definitive rivalry of modern DDT, the previous ace teams with the ace of NOAH for tag team glory, hair will be chopped off, the company is put on the line against a wrestler’s romantic life (or lack thereof), two handsome men face off, multiple championships are on the line including a brand new 10-Man Tag Team Title, a new strong lad debuts and there will be some free for all brawls spread around the building.

?. Maybe A Dark Match: Kendo Kashin Vs Mitsuo Momota or Chikara

We’re going to start off with something weird that has been developing over the last week but has been simmering in the background for months. Kendo Kashin is an ideas guy and he never lets something like common sense or reality limit his plans. For his appearances in DNA and Ganbare☆Wrestling during the year, Kashin often threw out challenges for a 5 Vs 5 Elimination match to be held on this event’s pre-show with Kashin’s team representing IGF NEW. Nobody took the challenges seriously. Then this past week at the Ganbare☆Climax, Kashin got into confrontations with Mitsuo Momota. The tension between them raised so high that Kashin is now claiming he got permission from DDT to fight Momota inside Sumo Hall on the morning of “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017”, at 6:30am to be precise. DDT denies this and also revealed that they do not get access to the building until 7:00am. But DDT is interested in doing some sort of dark match featuring Kashin and Momota. They are, as of this writing, negotiating with both wrestlers to organise a match to take place outside the venue at 6:30am. Momota thinks it is a difficult task for him to commit to but his son Chikara has offered to take his spot. Kashin has also demanded Bomber Saito to be the referee. Momota is against that idea because he knows Kashin and Saito went to the same high school together so there is no guarantee Saito will be neutral. If this match goes ahead does this mean the bout will be a Dawn Match instead of a Dark Match?

Whenever DDT runs in Sumo Hall they can’t help but take the action out of the ring and even out of the building. Gota Ihashi is still cursed to fight for DDT only on the pre-shows because of his status as the King Of Dark Champion. At least DDT is giving him a bunch of opportunities to get rid of it. The rules for his upcoming challenge have not been explained yet but it looks to be a 5 match Gauntlet series, all of them being Falls Count Anywhwere. Mad Paulie, Gorgeous Matsuno and Dai Suzuki are the only opponents revealed so far but the remaining two entries have been kept secret. I have predictions for who they will be. Maybe one of them can be Jun Kasai because he has a habit of showing up for these kind of matches whenever DDT produces them, either as a participant or by getting in the way while working another job. And what if the other was Kota Ibushi? The DDT Falls Count Anywhere matches are right up his alley. Also Ibushi’s first wrestling match after the G1 Climax being a Falls Count Anywhere dark match for DDT in Sumo Hall is the most Kota Ibushi decision he could ever make. I mean yeah, the drama surrounding his relationship with Kenny Omega is captivating and all but you know his desire to Moonsault off of the Ryogoku balcony again is too strong to resist.

Now watch me be wrong and the two mystery wrestlers turn out to be Kendo Kashin and Mitsuo Momota making another appearance.

Not much to go on for this mixture of veteran lowcard and DNA wrestlers. Masato Kamino is the freshest face in the match after only debuting on 5th August. He’s trying to grab attention immediately by wearing a lavish entrance jacket that is allegedly worth 100,000 yen. Tomomitsu Matsunaga reclaimed his Sumo King throne during Beer Garden week. Nobuhiro Shimatani has been the butt of many jokes throughout the year. It remains to be seen if this is just rookie hazing or if this will be his role in DDT from now on. Hoshitango has had a quiet year, sticking to appearances for the more significant shows on the calendar. On the other side Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Diego & Daiki Shimomura have all been hard at work in building up DNA. Diego has the highest profile of all four by being a part of the ALL OUT stable. Watase has shown that when you remove him from last year’s romantic soap opera he has solidly improved in the ring. Rekka sadly missed an opportunity to grab the spotlight when his DDT show in Taiwan had to be cancelled. Shimomura has been able to climb a small step above his generational counterpart Shimatani.

The Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title found its way to Tokyo Joshi Pro when the zombie girl Maho Kurone ended Joey Ryan’s international title reigns. Since then the belt did its thing and made its way through the roster until Cherry surprisingly got involved and won the title. Until now Cherry has had little to nothing to do with Tokyo Joshi, at least publicly as far as I know. But her determination to be the Iron Man Champion led her to show up and win the belt. So when it looked like Cherry would be the defending champion going into this Battle Royal she lost the belt to the brand’s general manager Tetsuya Koda at a fan club event. Koda claims that he wanted to guarantee the title would be staying in Tokyo Joshi and he would have passed the belt over to one of the girls. However he thinks all of them are equally cute so he couldn’t decide who deserves it most. His solution is to keep the belt for himself! It later turns out that Koda is going to a handshaking event starring singer Maria Makino later this month and he wants to impress her with a nice, shiny championship belt wrapped around him. Unfortunately for Koda, him being the champion means that he now qualifies as an active wrestler and he must enter the Battle Royal to defend the title! Further more, the joshi are pissed that he looked past all of them for a hopeless attempt at impressing some singer.

Yuki Ino is the latest in the growing line of DDT rookies to debut on the big stage. The 22 year old university rugby player had several opportunities from other sports on offer but he chose instead to go with pro wrestling. He is pretty strong with reports that he can bench press 205kg, dead lift 300kg and leg press 560kg. He bragged about smashing past the opposition on the rugby pitch and he will do the same in the ring. The kind of attitude might not mesh with another big ego standing on the other side, like say Naomi Yoshimura. The young brute is throwing bodies aside so he can claim to be the new ace of DNA. Now that somebody else of his size has entered the fray things will get interesting indeed.

I have one word for this: Overkill. You noticed how many wrestling promotions have established 6-Man Tag Team Titles recently? New Japan, DDT, Big Japan, Ring of Honor and Lucha Underground have all established such championships in the last couple of years. Dragon Gate has always had them so they can get away with it. Then the zombie corpse of FMW decided to come up with an 8-Man Tag Team Championship last year that has since vanished because, well, what do you expect from Atsushi Onita (Not a singles match that’s for sure)? Well, DDT decided to up the ante once more and create the KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles! This probably came about after watching too much Super Sentai because the title belts follow a similar colour scheme. Red, blue, yellow, green and pink belts are on the line for the winners. And what a line-up of insanity DDT has decided to bring in for the two teams!

Toru Owashi is the captain of the side featuring Kazuki Hirata, Joey Ryan, Saki Akai & Yoshihiko. Hirata has spent the year in muted limbo because his entrance song could not be used on DDT UNIVERSE. He was also deported from Japan and replaced by his Italian cousin Hirata Collection A.T. The cousin’s entrance song was also muted so he was no improvement. When Hirata returned he was told to record his own version of “TOKYO GO!”. Lo and behold he pulled it off! Joey Ryan is coming off of a heated feud with Daisuke Sasaki over pictures of his wife Laura James. Saki Akai’s been making allies with foreigners, learning English to team with them and serving beer inside an empty Tokyo Dome. She also has the right to be DDT general manager for a day. Yoshihiko has just been laying around doing its own thing.

The other team is being led by Makoto Oishi and mostly have a flair for live performances. LiLiCo returns to DDT after her romantic life within the company last year went haywire. Lady Beard hasn’t wrestled in DDT much this year but is always ready to sing his heart out. Super Sasadango Machine will undoubtedly have a PowerPoint presentation ready. Ken Ohka is coming in fresh off of winning the Ganbare☆Climax in his home promotion Ganbare☆Wrestling. There are so many questions to ask. Who will win? Will either team get along? Does Ken Ohka still have his “FUCK” hat? Can the belts combine to form a Megazord? Will this championship have a longer shelf life than the WWE UK Title? Who knows?

We have two charmers here. The kind of people who light up any room they enter. Even though Shunma Katsumata got his start in DDT he first trained to wrestle in the dojo ran by the SMASH promotion. He never got to debut for them and he left before the company fell apart. Juro Kuroshio was also in that dojo and he did get his debut match. From their the two youngsters split apart. Kuroshio stayed with SMASH as it transformed into Wrestling New Classic, then when that went bust he jumped to WRESTLE-1 and became the lovable Ikemen he is today. Katsumata went to DDT where he was among the first generation of DNA wrestlers for the brand’s launch. He then became a pop idol as part of NωA. Now fate has brought them back together in a battle of handsome men. Kuroshio’s jacket Vs Katsumata’s singing. It’s possible Kuroshio’s entrance could last longer than the match. He likes to milk the chants by running through the audience and Sumo Hall is a big building.

Four teams are thrown together, maybe we’ll get some No. 1 Contenders out of it. Keisuke Ishii removed a ghost from his past by going back to the All Japan Dojo he left many years ago to train with Kaz Hayashi. He was taught how to properly use Hayashi’s finisher the Final Cut but he has yet to use it in DDT. Isami Kodaka has been busy running Pro Wrestling BASARA but he is stopping by with his usual Yankii Ni Cho Kenji partner Yuko Miyamoto. Miyamoto is here as part of Smile Squash for the upcoming Dramatic General Election so he’ll be looking for fan votes. Mike Bailey became cocky when he won a Right To Challenge Contract but has been a bit aimless when his cash in left him empty handed. He teamed with MAO once in July and are teaming again here. Kotaro Suzuki & Soma Takao seems to be a random pairing. Takao is still undefeated at “PETER PAN” with an 8-0 record. But given the number of teams in this match it is the biggest threat yet to his streak. Like I said earlier, I expect the winners will be chasing after a tag team championship afterwards.

Maybe I shouldn’t have trashed the idea of trios championships earlier. Then I look at the title history and see that Shuten-dōji became 6 time champions in the space of 3 years. If it wasn’t for the Iron Man Title, this right here would be the hot potato of DDT. Still, a championship is worth fighting for (King Of Dark excluded) and the challenging team are no slouches. Dick Togo is back for a special appearance with two of his guys. Yasu Urano is no longer affiliated with DDT but still shows up for shows like these. Antonio Honda is here to talk about Gon, The Little Fox. What is Gon’s story anyway? Maybe I can fill out the rest of this preview with the tale and hope that nobody would notice.

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You know what, I just looked it up and it’s best that I don’t tell it. Poor Gon, he only wanted to help…

Something drastic needed to be done for this special celebration of DDT’s 20 years of existence. Two of DDT’s most important figures will clash and the stakes are as high as they could be for both of them. Sanshiro Takagi has done it all. He created DDT and over two decades built it up to where they now run buildings the size of Sumo Hall on an annual basis. He even got to headline the Tokyo Dome this year… in an empty arena match. Anyway despite his hard work paying off, somebody out there thinks a better job can be done. Danshoku Dino believes Takagi has taken DDT as far as he can and it’s time for a new leader to take over. Dino should be that leader. So his stipulation is simple. If Dino beats Takagi, Dino takes over DDT! In order for this to go ahead, Takagi had to think of something for Dino to do if he lost. Inspiration struck when Takagi had a private conversation with Dino’s mother. Dino turned 40 years old this year he is still single. His mother is worried that he will live the rest of his life alone because there are not that many gay wrestlers available for him to date. A lightbulb went off inside Takagi’s head and he promised to help her. If Takagi beats Dino then Dino must go and get married!

So those are the stakes. One man’s wrestling empire against another man’s bachelorhood. Such an important match needs important rules so DDT is bringing back the Weapon Rumble. Takagi is a veteran of the match facing The Great Sasuke in 2009, Minoru Suzuki in 2012 and Michael Nakazawa in 2014. Every few minutes a weapon is introduced to the match. What it is could be anything. Bicycles, a castle of chairs, boiling hot stew, giant mechanical fists and most importantly of all, famous wrestlers from outside of DDT could appear. Expect a couple of unpredictable cameos in this match.

DDT are already coming up with ideas if Dino loses and has to get married. Top of the pile is “Danshoku Terrace House”, a reality show where Dino is forced to live in a house with a bunch of other people from all around the world until he picks a partner. Another idea is “Danshoku Bachelor” where 25 men and women compete for Dino’s affections. Both DDT UNIVERSE and Samurai TV! are interested in getting the rights to the show.

Somebody’s going to get a haircut. Daisuke Sasaki has been a scrappy DDT Extreme Champion ever since he won it from Jun Kasai inside Saitama Super Arena. He fought Dick Togo to a 30 minute draw in an Ultimate Submission Match, beat Antonio Honda in a No DQ Match and had two defences against Joey Ryan, one being a Last Man Standing draw and the second being a Ladder Match which Sasaki won. His record as champion hasn’t been 100% but he’ll admit when he’s beaten. Akito has beaten him plenty this year including a singles win during the King Of DDT. Everytime Sasaki lost to Akito he would hand over the DDT Extreme Title to him and walk out of the ring. Akito would be happy to accept the championship if it was an authorised title transfer but a ring attendant would always take the belt away and give it back to Sasaki. It led to a brief period where Akito couldn’t figure out how the concept of championships in wrestling worked.

When the time came for Sasaki to nominate his challenger at Sumo Hall, his usual request for Candice LeRae was declined. Again. Akito came out to challenge him. Sasaki would accept but only if it was Cabellera Contra Cabellera. Hair Vs Hair! Akito agreed because he is willing to sacrifice anything to become a champion again. Sasaki is fine with that. He claims he doesn’t care about his own hair so he’s willing to risk it too. It led to a weird situation during last week’s press conference where both Sasaki and Akito tried to cut off their own hair to prove how much or little it meant to them. Amon Tsurumi had to stop both of them from ruining the stipulation.

The match itself will have No Disqualifications and can only end by either submission, knockout or TKO. Sasaki has more experience in Hardcore Matches but Akito realises he can now use objects to cause even more limb damage for his submission holds.

Shigehiro Irie & Kazusada Higuchi will be the first to tell you they are not pretty boy ikemen wrestlers. They are bastards, guys, lads, YaroZ. The two have found success in the tag division since teaming together to represent the unconventional YaroZ sub-brand. Now as the KO-D Tag Team Champions they are challenged by the most powerful ikemen alliance of all. When Naomichi Marufuji was announced to wrestle on this show back in March I knew that he would be doing something with HARASHIMA. I though it was the perfect fit for him as an opponent. But they thought of a different idea and are instead teaming together. When HARASHIMA lost all of his remaining chances to headline Sumo Hall this year he told the wrestling media it was time for him to do something selfish. In previous years he did what was best for DDT but this year he wanted to do something for himself. Turns out it was to join forces with Marufuji and go after the Tag Titles. Plus there looks to be a business relationship being formed between DDT and NOAH. I mean DDT sent two thirds of NωA over for the NOAH Jr. Tag League. That’s kind of like giving your crush a mixtape.

While Marufuji’s appearance in the match would be interesting on its own, the other factor in the match is the rivalry between Irie and HARASHIMA. Poor Irie no matter how hard he tries just cannot beat HARASHIMA. Time after time, HARASHIMA has come out on top. It’s almost a certainty at this point. In their last meeting in June, HARASHIMA pinned Irie in under 3 minutes and Irie’s only reaction was to storm out straight back to the locker room. That has to be stuck in the back of Irie’s mind. Higuchi’s record against HARASHIMA is only a little better with a pinfall tag team victory earned back in April. History is in the challengers’ favour too. Whenever a high level DDT wrestler teams with a famous outside they usually win the KO-D Tag Team Titles. Examples include Shiro Koshinaka & Danshoku Dino, Daisuke Sekimoto & Masa Takanashi, MIKAMI & Tatsumi Fujinami and Yoshihiro Takayama & Danshoku Dino. The odds are against the champions but they wouldn’t be YaroZ if it were easy.

This is going to be the definitive match of DDT’s current era. So much history to delve into here. Former friends, former tag team champions together, both have been built up for the last 3 years to be the next generation of stars to lead DDT into the future. Konosuke Takeshita has been described as a supernova ever since his debut match in 2012. You can hardly dream of a better road to the top. When you get a significant debut match held inside Budokan Hall you know there are high aspirations for your career. From there you get special one on one matches with Tatsumi Fujinami, Kenny Omega, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, HARASHIMA, Isami Kodaka and Shuji Ishikawa all before he reaches 21 years of age. Then when he does turn 21 he wins the KO-D Openweight Title on his birthday. Like I said, it’s a dream come true. But while Takeshita has been positioned front and centre, his friend turned rival Tetsuya Endo took a different direction in his rise up to the main event spot.

While Endo and Takeshita were on a successful tag team run as the New Generation Combination, they fought each other several times with the KO-D Title as the reason. Whether it was a No. 1 Contender’s Match or a Championship Bout itself, the two were put in enough situations to find out who was better. And more often than not, Takeshita would win. As it currently stands Takeshita and Endo have had 9 single matches against each other in DDT. Takeshita won 6 of them (1 match was stopped when Endo dislocated his elbow), Endo won 2 and their last match was a draw. To make it even more frustrating for Endo, he couldn’t win the KO-D Title after two attempts while Takeshita achieved the goal with the same amount of opportunities. Endo ended up looking like the bridesmaid to Takeshita. So in July 2016 when Endo lost to Takeshita again, this time in a KO-D Title match, he was immediately approached by Daisuke Sasaki to join DAMNATION. When tempted with the promise that he would no longer be seen as a second class wrestler next to Takeshita, it didn’t take Endo long to make his decision and he willingly abandoned his friends to go down a darker path. Since then Endo has built on success while discarding his emotions. Although he’s been accused of faking his new nihilistic attitude to look cool, Endo can back up his actions with the success he’s earned since joining DAMNATION. The latest achievement was winning the 2017 King Of DDT tournament which leads us to the climactic main event at Sumo Hall.

So much has developed between Takeshita and Endo during the last year. Back in April we learned that 60 minutes was not enough to determine a winner between the two. Takeshita had been using the Cross Arm German Suplex for his most dramatic victories but he also developed a new Wrist Clutch Fisherman Buster called the Surprise Rose to put away his more recent challengers. If that’s not enough, Takeshita has one other big match move in his arsenal. He recently used the top turnbuckle Brainbustaaaaahhhhh!!!!! in tribute to his first opponent and inspiration El Generico. Endo meanwhile has turned the Shooting Star Press and Spanish Fly into killer moves. Endo won the King Of DDT with the Shooting Star Press. The grounded version of the Spanish Fly is called Tetsuya In The Sky and it has given him some unexpected quick victories. Then there is his top rope version the Tetsuya In The Sky With Diamonds to look out for. Is it now Endo’s time to shine or will Takeshita continue to shape the future of DDT? We won’t have to wait long to find out!

Last call for orders came before DDT heads off to Sumo Hall. The Beer Garden finale featured some of the usual highlights like the Lottery 6-Man Tag Team main event. The two teams were put together by random draw with audience members pulling out the names. On one side we got Konosuke Takeshita, HARASHIMA & Daisuke Sasaki as the trio of KO-D Openweight Champions. Their opponents were Tetsuya Endo, Shigehiro Irie & Akito. Despite being on opposite teams, Endo and Sasaki came to each other’s aid throughout the match. They even tried the Finger Poke Of Doom spot when they had to wrestle each other. Later Sasaki put Irie in the Cross Facelock and Endo kept his guard. Akito got sick of it and put Endo in the Scorpion Lock but Sasaki stopped him with a chairshot to the back. Takeshita gave Endo a Dragon Suplex but Endo immediately fired back with Tetsuya In The Sky. HARASHIMA and Sasaki collided by accident and that mistake cost them the match. Irie took advantage on a dazed Sasaki by hitting the Cannonball and then the Beast Bomber for the pin. The two DAMNATION wrestlers didn’t stick around for the closing speeches. Irie said he missed last year’s Beer Garden so to be here this year was enjoyable. He has a new goal today and that is to grow YaroZ.

Hisaya Imabayashi returned from the dead to tell his annual ghost story. He explained that he died last year but he made a deal in the afterlife that allows him to return to the land of the living once a year to tell his stories. A cold presence was felt in the ring and for some reason Nobuhiro Shimatani was sitting in the centre with his face painted white. Nobody else in the ring noticed him. After three minutes of wrestling around Shimatani, the time came for the story to begin. Imabayashi told the scary tale of the Coin Locker Baby and Shimatani began crying over it. Imabayashi finally acknowledged Shimatani, spat holy water and poured salt over him so he would leave the ring. He explained that Shimatani snuck into the segment because he wasn’t booked for anything else on today’s show. With the story completed, Imabayashi talked about DDT with the wrestlers. Danshoku Dino asked who his favourite was? Imabayashi suddenly pointed at Dino and yelled “It’s you!” causing Dino to faint in fright. He then pointed to Super Sasadango Machine. “It’s you!” Then Kazusada Higuchi. “It’s you!” Then Saki Akai. “It’s you!” Then Yukinori Matsui. “It’s you!” Then the audience. “It’s you!” Suddenly “Wild Thing” played and Imabayashi threw water at everyone. He thanked everyone and asked to be invited back next year. Suddenly two crying children entered the room and climbed into the ring. Imabayashi asked if they were lost. No, they were looking for their father. Imabayashi asked who is he. They pointed and screamed “It’s you!” Imabayashi introduced everyone to his two sons and told them he will go buy fidget spinners for them. But his sons handed him a letter from their mother. He read it and was in shock. The wrestlers then read it and were also shocked. The letter was shown on the screen and everyone was shocked. It read “The father is not you!”

Kazuki Hirata succeeded in recording his own version on “TOKYO GO!” that can be used on DDT UNIVERSE without being muted. A video was him recording the lyrics was played during his entrance to prove he made it. Makoto Oishi announced that since Gorgeous Matsuno was deported from Japan, his team had to bring in his Italian cousin Matsuno Collection A.T. as a replacement. Nobody believed it was him but Sanshiro Takagi is allowing him to stay in DDT until Gorgeous Matsuno’s exile is completed.

Before the show began, Cherry and Rekka demonstrated a pro wrestling training class to advertise the DDT Dojo. While Cherry was doing her exercises, the Tokyo Joshi Pro matchmaker Tetsuya Koda snuck into the ring and pinned her to win the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title! DDT confirmed that Koda will now be part of the Tokyo Joshi Battle Royal at “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017” as the defending champion. Cherry will also still be part of the match.

Some new units were formed for the upcoming DDT Dramatic General Election. YaroZ is now a full unit consisting of Irie, Higuchi, Antonio Honda, Ryuichi Sekine and Rocky Kawamura. Ohka Empire Returns is Dino, Sasadango, Ken Ohka and Keisuke Ishii. Super DNA Revolution has Kouki Iwasaki, Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Daiki Shimomura and Yuki Ueno. Nobuhiro Shimatani was originally supposed to be a part of the group but he was convinced by Tomomitsu Matsunaga and Gota Ihashi to join Pigging 2017 as their leader. Yuko Miyamoto was confirmed as a member of Smile Squash for the Election.

FUMA will be part of a pro wrestling and heavy metal event in Shin-Kiba on 9th December. For the wrestling portion of the show FUMA will take on Jun Kasai. The rock bands performing on the show include Thorn, Hell Dump, Nihonto (Ricky Fuji’s band) and Hammerhead.

ALL OUT brought in the beef to go with the beer for their main event. Their opponents were the power trio of Manabu Soya, Yuji Okabayashi & Shigehiro Irie. They were too strong for ALL OUT and even Konosuke Takeshita admitted it. Diego got the worst of it by taking Soya’s Wild Bomber, Irie’s Beast Bomber and then Okabyashi’s Golem Splash for the finish. Akito said his team did not go ALL OUT enough. Takeshita & Diego agreed. If Beer Garden returns next year, the three of them will train every day so they can go ALL OUT for another exciting match.

Diego reverted back to Guanchulo so he could be Los Amigos with Shunma Katsumata one last time. They never got the chance to say goodbye when Katsumata joined NωA. After the match they had a toast and said “Salud” to the fans.

Yasu Urano was everywhere in the second match. The two wrestlers (Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi and Daiki Shimomura) were Urano, the referee (Daisuke Kiso) was Urano, the second at ringside (Nobuhiro Shimatani) was Urano and even the ring announcer was Urano (the real one). When another Urano (Takeshita) came out during the match everyone found out it was now a Urano Battle Royal! Two more came out (Yuni and Gota Ihashi) and they fought until one Urano was left standing. It was the Hiroshi one who won… I think… I don’t know it was hard to tell them apart…

New Beijing Pro Wrestling marked its return to DDT for the first time in years with a tag team match.

A deadlift weightlifting challenge was held at the beginning of the show. When Yuji Okabayashi showed up to compete it was of no surprise that he would win it, using his last turn to lift 300kg. Takeshita was the runner up with 250kg as his best lift. The trainee Yuki Ino got to show off his strength by lifting 200kg. He finished in third place because of it.

Kanpai! This year’s Beer Garden series began with an explosive start from DDT. More matches and drama were made for “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017” at Sumo Hall. In the main event, DAMNATION were victorious over ALL OUT in a highly tense match-up. This was a preview of both Konosuke Takeshita Vs Tetsuya Endo and Akito Vs Daisuke Sasaki with some Diego and Mad Paulie thrown in for good measure. Endo took out both Takeshita & Diego with the Springboard Overhead Kick then pinned Diego with the Shooting Star Press. After the match Sasaki played nice and offered a handshake to ALL OUT. Even Endo was confused by Sasaki’s sudden nice behaviour. Endo shook Takeshita’s hand but held on tight. He then kicked Takeshita and the rest of DAMNATION attacked ALL OUT. Endo yelled “Wrestling is not fighting” at Takeshita while Sasaki brought out a pair of scissors and cut off pieces of Diego’s hair! Sasaki was in the middle of saying his catchphrase when Takeshita grabbed him from behind and gave him a German Suplex. DAMNATION fled out of the ring. Both Takeshita and Akito swore they will get their revenge at Sumo Hall. Diego was the calm one of the three and assured the others he was okay. He asked both of them to win their matches at Sumo Hall. But today, let’s forget about DAMNATION’s disgusting actions by drinking some delicious alcohol!

Kazusada Higuchi provoked HARASHIMA with a muscular pose after their tag match.

Movement was slow in the 3 Way Blindfold Match. Antonio Honda, Masahiro Takanashi and Nobuhiro Shimatani all had to wrestle blindfolded while also wearing bras. The first person to strip off an opponent’s bra would be declared the winner. Honda told his “Gon, The Little Fox” story but missed all of his sneak attacks afterward. The three of them wandered outside the ring and were all nearly counted out. Back in the ring, Takanashi thought the referee was one of his opponents so he tried to give him the Takatonic. He slid off the ref and bumped into Honda’s back. Takanashi then pulled off Honda’s bra to win the match.

Nobody really wanted to wait for Kazuki Hirata to make his entrance before Match #2 could begin. Hirata pleaded to everyone to let him have his entrance because it’s been so long since he last did it. The song played but everyone else ignored it and began the match. Danshoku Dino then grabbed Hirata and fought with him through the crowd. Dino’s attention was then grabbed by Sanshiro Takagi when Takagi used the Danshoku Nightmare on Keisuke Ishii to taunt Dino. Hirata put on his Hirata Go! glasses and got to dance again until Dino put him in the Lip Lock. Ishii then hit a Running Knee Attack for the victory. Takagi told Hirata after the match that nothing about him has changed in the last three months. He’s still using the same song they are not allowed to use on DDT UNIVERSE. Maybe the reason he can’t become strong is because his power up music gets muted every time he appears on DDT UNIVERSE! But there’s a way around this. DDT can make a substitute song to “TOKYO GO!” but they’ll need somebody to do the vocals. John Robinson isn’t going to do it so Hirata should! Takagi is giving Hirata the rest of the week to study English, record the perfect cover of “TOKYO GO!” and make the song his own! Hirata is expected to present his song on the final day of Beer Garden.

Takagi’s day wasn’t over. He still had Dino to deal with. They will fight each other at “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017” to celebrate 20 years of DDT. But Dino wants something out of it. Takagi has done a good job running DDT not just this year but for all 20 years. But what would it be like if Dino was in charge? Dino wants full authority over all of DDT’s decisions if he beats Takagi at Sumo Hall! Takagi considered it and came up with a demand of his own. If Takagi wins the Dino will have to go find a romantic partner and get married! Takagi revealed that Dino’s mother spoke to him recently. She doesn’t want her son to be single at 40 years old. She wants Takagi to help her find another gay wrestler for Dino to marry. Dino accepted the decision. After all, DDT has always been the place where Dino decides the most important things in his life. The risk is worth the reward of rewriting DDT in his own image. But a match of this calibur cannot be a normal singles match. Dino brought up the Weapon Rumble rule. It is the match that best symbolises DDT and it hasn’t been done in years. They both agreed. Takagi Vs Dino at Sumo Hall is now a Weapon Rumble Match. If Dino wins he takes over DDT but if Takagi wins, Dino must get married!

Dave Crist introduced himself to the DDT fans after the intermission. He thanked DDT for bringing him back to the beautiful country of Japan. Nobuhiro Shimatani, still wearing his bra from the earlier blindfold match, didn’t take kindly to Crist and attacked him. Crist knocked Shimatani out with his finishing move, the Square & Compass.

The first round draw was held for the DNA Pro Wrestling Koshien 2017 tournament being held this Saturday. All entrants were in attendance except for Dai Suzuki who was still recovering from the mystery biker attack last week. The mystery biker made his appearance again here and this time attacked MAO with a chair! The first round matches are Mizuki Watase Vs Kouki Iwasaki, Naomi Yoshimura Vs Dai Suzuki, Diego Vs Yuki Ueno and Shunma Katsumata Vs MAO.

With less than a month away before “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017”, the journey to Sumo Hall went through a lot of bumps and turns in Korakuen Hall today. Konosuke Takeshita had not just one but two KO-D Openweight Title defences, clearing through the last of the Right To Challenge holders. First up was the scheduled main event against Keisuke Ishii. For weeks Ishii had been preparing the Final Cut learned from Kaz Hayashi as his secret weapon. Unfortunately for him, when it was finally time to use it Takeshita countered the move into an Emerald Frosion. Kind of ironic given Ishii’s adoration for classic All Japan that such a move would be used against him. With his battleplan in tatters, Ishii still had it in him to kick out of the German Suplex and some Big Boots. But the Surprise Rose finally put him down for the count.

After the match Takeshita wanted to create peace between his generation and Ishii’s. It isn’t about which generation is better, it’s about doing your best for DDT. He even invited Shigehiro Irie to come out as part of the peace offering. What he got instead was an ambush Lariat from Naomi Yoshimura! Today was the day Yoshimura would give Takeshita his greatest humiliation. He’s cashing in the last Right To Challenge contract for his title shot right now! What followed was Takeshita’s fight for survival as Yoshimura tried to beat him with big move after big move. A high angle choke Slam couldn’t beat Takeshita. A Power Bomb from the apron through a table couldn’t beat him. More Lariats couldn’t beat him. Takeshita finally turned the tables when he escaped the Throwaway Power Bomb and hit back with Lariats and Shoulder Blocks. He was now besting Yoshimura in these sumo-like collisions just like when they were kids. Yoshimura couldn’t handle it and his quest for revenge ended in failure after one Lariat too many. Takeshita won and now has a clear road ahead to Sumo Hall where Tetsuya Endo is waiting for him.

Endo entered the ring to show his disappointment over the result. He thought fighting Yoshimura would be the more interesting match. He reminded Takeshita that it was just over one year ago when Endo joined DAMNATION. A lot has changed since then but one thing remained the same. Endo wants the KO-D Title and he’ll have to beat Takeshita to get it! Takeshita didn’t hold back over what he wanted to say to his former friend. If Takeshita beats Endo in another title match and at Sumo Hall this time then Endo shouldn’t get another shot as long as Takeshita is champion. Endo agreed to the condition. Takeshita then reminded Endo about their 60 minute draw and said everyone at Sumo Hall better be prepared to see another one. He offered a handshake but Endo spat in his face instead. Takeshita remained calm but then grabbed Endo’s hair and pulled him in for a Short Range Lariat. Endo ducked, bounced off the ropes and hit a Handspring Leg Lariat to the champion. He followed it up with the Shooting Star Press. Endo grabbed the title belt and had the final word. Fair and square? Endo isn’t here to kid around. Wrestling isn’t a sport, it’s a fight. Takeshita told him that one year ago. Now Endo will return that message to him!

High risk, high reward was needed to determine a winner between Daisuke Sasaki and Joey Ryan so a Ladder Match was held with the DDT Extreme Title hanging above the ring. Ryan wasted no time when he dove out of the ring onto Sasaki during the champion’s entrance. Ryan later gave Sasaki a Brainbuster onto the ladder outside the ring. He looked all clear to climb the ladder inside the ring and grab the title but Sasaki caught his attention by pulling out a picture of Laura James and kissing it. Ryan got off the ladder but that allowed Sasaki to come back in and take control of the match. Sasaki brought out a trash can to beat Joey up with. He then wrapped a steel chain around his arm and jumped for a Diving Elbow but Joey rolled out of the way. Ryan took out a lollipop covered in thumbtacks and shoved it into Sasaki’s mouth! Sasaki hit back with a Chain Lariat then used the chain to wrap a Cross Facelock on Joey. Sasaki then brought out a barbed wire bat but Joey Super Kicked him with the lollipop still in his mouth! Then Ryan brought out the most dangerous weapon yet… a box of Lego! Ever step on one of those things without shoes on? Then you know how much they hurt. Ryan spilled the Lego onto the canvas and gave Sasaki the Balls Plex onto the Lego. He climbed the ladder but somehow Sasaki recovered, grabbed the second ladder and hit him with it to slow him down. Sasaki then position the second ladder between the first ladder and the top rope. Joey reached for the title belt but Sasaki threw him off with a Back Body Drop onto the second ladder! That left Sasaki free to pull down the belt and stay as the Extreme Champion.

Sasaki celebrated with the title belt and the picture of Laura James. He was approached by Amon Tsurumi and asked who he would like to defend the title against at Sumo Hall. Sasaki said he wants to go to America and defend against Candice LeRae. Tsurumi told him to forget about it because that request is impossible. Akito came out and asked for the title shot. Tsurumi liked the idea. After all, Akito eliminated Sasaki in the King Of DDT tournament and also has wins over him in 3 Way Matches. Sasaki said he would agree to it on one condition. Their match will also be “Cabellera Contra Cabellera”, a Hair Vs Hair Match! Akito accepted because he made up his mind long ago how much he is willing to risk to become a champion again. He’ll bet all of the hair on his head if he has to!

Irie appeared in the ring with his head heavily bandaged for his KO-D Tag Team Titles defence with Kazusada Higuchi. They were in for a fight against the DAMNATION pair of Shuji Ishikawa & Mad Paulie. The four brawled around the ring and it looked like the challengers were coming out on top. Ishikawa gave Irie the Fire Thunder while Paulie hit Higuchi with the Reverse Splash. However Higuchi recovered and sent Paulie into the corner. Irie ran in with a Cannonball Splash to Paulie which stunned him. Higuchi then put the big guy away with the Goten for the three count. The YaroZ were presented with their title belts by Ayumi Goto who herself was wearing the OPBF Oriental Pacific Women’s Super Bantamweight Title.

Afterwards Tsurumi invited HARASHIMA to the ring for an announcement concerning the Tag Titles. HARASHIMA will be challenging for the belts at Sumo Hall with someone who will certainly make DDT more exciting. Out came Naomichi Marufuji! HARASHIMA said he was exciting to put this together. Marufuji wanted everyone to know he isn’t doing this match as a guest wrestler. He is here because he wants to win the Tag Titles with somebody as skillful as HARASHIMA. Irie is pleased. He respects Marufuji and cannot wait to crush him!

Soma Takao must be feeling left out. He returns from illness to win a 4 Way Tag with HARASHIMA then HARASHIMA goes and makes friends with Marufuji for a big championship match. Now what is Takao going to do at Sumo Hall?

Shunma Katsumata Vs Tetsuya Endo didn’t last three minutes. Katsumata attacked Endo during his entrance and tried to get a quick win but it backfired when Endo pinned him with Tetsuya In The Sky. Backstage Katsumata excused the loss by saying he was feeling tired from wrestling in the NOAH Jr. Tag League.

Saki Akai wanted to see how much she has grown since her last meeting with Yoshiko. The result was inconclusive because Masahiro Takanashi pinned Makoto Oishi instead, leaving the two women to glare at each other after the match.

Japanese livelihoods were on the line in the opener. If T2Hide lost then both Hirata Collection A.T. and Gorgeous Matsuno would be deported from the country. But if they won then nobody could ever accuse Hira-Colle of being Kazuki Hirata in disguise ever again. A draw meant only Hira-Colle would be deported and Matsuno would be safe. To make things even more tense the match was held under (deep breath) Italian Falls Count Anywhere Match Scramble Bunkhouse Street Fight Tornado 6-Man Tag rules. Antonio Honda tried to calm the situation by telling the good old summer story “Pirates Of The Caribbean” but he replaced the name Caribbean with Parisian. Danshoku Dino won the match for his team by countering the Hirata Lock into a Cradle for the pin. Everyone celebrated by grabbing Hirata and carrying him out of the building. A message was then produced on the screen advertising Kazuki Hirata’s return to DDT on 30th August.

In the dark match, Daiki Shimomura tried to beat Kouki Iwasaki with Standing Moonsaults. Iwasaki fought back with Knee Lifts and won the match with a Vertical Drop Brainbuster. That is quickly becoming is go to move for beating opponents from the generation below him.

The brand new KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles were shown off for the first time. Each belt is a different colour. The belts are red, blue, pink, yellow and green. The first champions will be decided at Sumo Hall with Toru Owashi and Makoto Oishi captaining the two teams. They will announce their team choices at the first Beer Garden show on 30th July.

Katsumata was told he would be getting a special singles match at Sumo Hall. He will face Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio! The WRESTLE-1 pretty boy ran around Korakuen Hall greeting the audience while Tsurumi tried to get his attention to keep the show on schedule. The match means something to both wrestlers because they are both the same age and were also trainees together in an old promotion called SMASH.

Miyu Yamashita appeared to promote her match against Meiko Satomura in Tokyo Joshi Pro on 26th August. She admitted she had a bad performance at the press conference announcing the match. Satomura’s comments about Yamashita drove her to tears. Yamashita said when she woke up the next day she threw away all of her admiration for Satomura and replaced them with a desire to kill her in the ring!

Keisuke Ishii continues to build momentum against Konosuke Takeshita and he’s doing it without the need for the Final Cut yet. Ishii gave Takeshita the Double Arm DDT on the floor outside the ring while Mike Bailey pinned Diego with the Ultima Weapon. Afterwards Ishii described Takeshita as a wonderful champion. But Ishii needs the KO-D Openweight Title to give the second half of his 2017 meaning.

Tetsua Endo mocked Kazusada Higuchi’s body after DAMNATION won their tag match. Endo said Higuchi has the body of a former sumo wrestler and he should be more like Mad Paulie if he wants to be strong. Paulie eats ramen three times a day to get his stoic body. Endo then announced on 23rd July he will help Paulie establish the Paulie Joshi club. It’s like Sumo Joshi clubs where women love sumo but this one is for women who love Paulie. It is Endo’s dream to buy an uninhabited island for Paulie and the Paulie Joshi to live in paradise. He may even use his King Of DDT winnings to pay for it.

Yukio Sakaguchi did everything he could to physically stop Antonio Honda from reciting “Gon, The Little Fox”. Every time Honda began to tell the tale, Sakaguchi kicked him. Honda agreed he would tell a different story instead like Snow White but it was obvious he was still trying to do “Gon, The Little Fox”. Sakaguchi ended up winning the match. He said it was fun, it’s just that he is tired of Honda telling the same story over and over. He already told it three times today!

Mizuki Watase replaced Soma Takao in Match #4. Takao had to be taken off the show when he became ill with cellulitis. HARASHIMA was pleased with the results as he and Watase beat Danshoku Dino & Makoto Oishi. But with Sumo Hall on the horizon HARASHIMA is looking into what he can do on the show. He hasn’t given up on the possibility that he can still be in the main event somehow. He has two choices ahead of him. Do something for himself or do something for DDT. He has an idea to something for himself.

Joey Ryan went into the 3 Way Match without the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title because he lost it to Maho Kurone earlier in the show (more on that later). Akito won the match by submitting Joey but now had no prize to claim. Daisuke Sasaki gave Akito his DDT Extreme Title belt and left the ring, like he did the last time Akito won a match over him. Akito would have kept the belt but Nobuhiro Shimatani took it off him and ran backstage to give it back to Sasaki. Akito is now left wondering how the hell do championships work in this company? Once he figures it out, he’s hoping to enter Sumo Hall with a title over his shoulder.

The 2 Vs 1 Handicap Match was turned into a normal tag team bout when Gorgeous Matsuno asked to team with Hirata Collection A.T. Matsuno hadn’t wrestled in DDT since “JUDGEMENT 2017” in March and he grew tired of waiting for his next booking. Everyone wanted to know Hirata’s true identity. And I mean everyone because they all entered the ring to gang up and stomp on Hirata. After the match, Sanshiro Takagi came to a conclusion. Hirata Collection A.T. is… not Kazuki Hirata! Why? Because Hirata Collection A.T. cannot wrestle to save his life. Matsuno didn’t care about this nonsense. He wanted to know when DDT will book him again. Takagi asked the audience if they wanted to see Matsuno again. They cheered. Takagi then announced that at Korakuen Hall on 23rd July, Hirata Collection A.T. will have to win his match or else he will be deported! Also Matsuno won’t be on the show. Danshoku Dino convinced Takagi to change his mind and add Matsuno to Hirata’s match. Now if Hirata’s team loses then both Hirata and Matsuno will be deported out of Japan!

Before the first match began, Joey Ryan wanted to send a message to Daisuke Sasaki so he went to the ring and had Antonio Honda translate for him. Joey mentioned he was attacked by a zombie girl at Tokyo Joshi Pro earlier in the day but this is a DDT show so he isn’t worried about bumping into her again. As he was saying this, Maho Kurone snuck into the ring with a severed arm and a referee. She tapped Joey’s shoulder with the arm to get his attention. When Joey turned around he tried to defend himself by grabbing the severed arm and making it grab his crotch. However Kurone let go of the arm and pinned Joey with a School Boy to win the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title! Joey ran off with the severed hand still grabbing his crotch while Honda finished up the opening call.

Takeshita opened the show by promoting the upcoming “HANDMADE IN JAPAN FES 2017” but he was interrupted by Naomi Yoshimura as usual. Yoshimura claimed he had stolen Takaeshita’s power blocks and this time he got the correct ones. He brought them out and to Takeshita’s surprise they really were his blocks. Amon Tsurumi asked Yoshimura when he will finally use his Right To Challenge Contract to cash for the KO-D Title shot. Yoshimura said he wants to do it in a venue that can fill 10,000 people where he can humiliate Takeshita the most, so Sumo Hall on 20th August. Tsurumi had some bad news for Yoshimura. The Right To Challenge contract will expire after the Beer Garden series finale on 5th August. That’s before Sumo Hall! Yoshimura was taken aback but then acted like he knew that all along. He’ll cash in on 3rd August or 5th August or whatever date Tsurumi said it expires. Yoshimura was in such a hurry to leave ringside that he left behind Takeshita’s power blocks for Takeshita to take back.

Tetsuya Endo is the 2017 King Of DDT winner! His knees are probably killing him after today’s show but it was worth it. Endo defeated HARASHIMA in the final, overcoming the odds against a fresher and more experienced opponent after the semi-finals. Endo’s knees were not in 100% condition when the main event began so they were the target of HARASHIMA’s offence. Despite the disadvantage, Endo still pulled out his big moves. He prevented HARASHIMA from hitting the Firebird Splash so he could do Tetsuya In The Sky With Diamonds instead. He later put all his might into the Torture Rack Bomb. That placed HARASHIMA in the perfect position for the match winning Shooting Star Press.

Endo was rewarded with a 1,000,000 yen prize as well as the main event spot for “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017” in August. Daisuke Sasaki puts his faith in Endo to win the KO-D Openweight Title at that show. Sasaki said he lives his life thinking he could die at anytime but he swears he won’t die until Endo wins the title at Sumo Hall! The crowd chanted Endo’s name and he tried to shrug them off. He claims he is not interested in main eventing Sumo Hall and winning the KO-D Title there. But he then reconsidered his opinion. He’s been through a lot this year so he realises that he can’t complain about the opportunity. He’ll main event Sumo Hall after all!

The reason Endo went into the final with bad knees is all because of Akito. They fought in the semi-final where Akito used his arsenal of submissions to wear down Endo’s legs. Things looked bad for Endo when he missed a Swan Dive Kneel Kick and fell into an Anklelock. Akito then turned it into a Figure 4 Leg Lock with the intent of turning it into his Perfect version of the move. Endo fought his way on top of Akito and suddenly pinned him for the surprise three count. Akito said in his post match interview that he never expected the match to end that way. He realises that only focusing on Akito’s legs could have been a mistake. On the other hand, Akito also wonders that maybe Endo is just the better wrestler and is good enough to become the ace of DDT.

The other semi-final was a highly anticipated match between HARASHIMA and Shigehiro Irie. The two are no strangers to each other, having had five singles matches previously. HARASHIMA had won every single bout so Irie went in determined to finally beat his rival. Shockingly, HARASHIMA pinned Irie in under three minutes with a Crucifix Pin! In a flashback to their match from Christmas Day last year, Irie tried to Power Bomb HARASHIMA onto the apron. HARASHIMA avoided that and brought the match back into the ring where they rushed into a wild series of missed Enzuigiris and Beast Bombers. After that HARASHIMA hooked Irie into the Crucifix Pin and to the surprise of everyone that was enough. Irie knew what had happened and immediately left the ring in anger.

Mike Bailey is becoming ever more smug in his attempts to show sportsmanship to Konosuke Takeshita. He enthusiastically applauded Takeshita during their tag match. Then after he knocked out Diego, Bailey taunted Takeshita by dragging Diego over and pretending he was trying to tag out. Takeshita was left fighting a 2-on-1 disadvantage until Diego recovered. Unfortunately Diego was put away with a painful combination of the Canadian Backbreaker from Kazusada Higuchi followed by the Ultima Weapon by Bailey while Diego was still held in the air.

A happy Bailey told Takeshita after the match that he wants to fight him every week, even if he was the eternal challenger and Takeshita was the eternal champion. But Bailey then said he will win their KO-D Title match in Shinjuku so maybe that means he will be the eternal champion and Takeshita the eternal challenger instead. Takeshita saw the funny side and joked with Bailey until Keisuke Ishii stepped into the ring with his newly won Right To Challenge Contract. Ishii said he will cash in his title shot on 23rd July, a show that takes place weeks after Takeshita Vs Bailey. Ishii stared at Takeshita until Bailey stepped right up to his face. Takeshita got both of their attention by saying today’s main event will determine one half of the Sumo Hall main event. He will be standing on the other side of the ring as the champion and neither Bailey, Ishii or Naomi Yoshimura will stop him!

Keisuke Ishii is back on track and he has Kaz Hayashi to thank for that. The two defeated DAMNATION with Ishii pinning Mad Paulie. As a bonus, Ishii now has a Right To Challenge contract and as mentioned above, he was quick to decide when to use it. Hayashi noticed that Ishii used the Final Cut during the match. He’s alright with Ishii borrowing the move but he should practice it with him first so it can be done better.

The trio of Danshoku Dino, Super Sasadango Machine and Ken Ohka sent a threatening video to Sanshiro Takagi before their 3 Vs 1 match. Dino warned Takagi that Ohka isn’t the only person in the company who holds a grudge against him, there are more who will betray him tonight! Ohka wants to tell Takagi what he thinks of him but instead he will let the hat on his head say it. He then showed off a baseball cap on his head with the word “FUCK” written on it. When the match began Takagi had little trouble fighting off his three opponents. But when he ran to the ropes the first betrayal happened. Hirata Collection A.T. tripped Takagi, gave him the middle fingers then began stomping on him. Ohka missed a Spear which allowed Takagi to fight back and give Hirata the Stunner. Takagi pinned Sasadango after the Spicolli Driver but Yukinori Matsui stopped counting after two. Matsui was the next betrayer! Takagi gave him a Stunner then tried to pin Dino. Daisuke Kiso ran down and counted but he also stopped at two. He is also betraying Takagi! So Takagi gave him a Stunner too. Amon Tsurumi ran down to the ring and put on a referee shirt after Takagi gave Sasadango an Avalanche Brainbuster. But he too betrayed Takagi! He survived a Stunner when his afro slipped off but Takagi then gave him a Death Valley Bomb onto Sasadango. More trouble came when Toru Owashi ran in wearing a referee shirt that was too small for him. He briefly paused the pin count but it turned out he was on Takagi’s side and he counted to three.

Takagi won the match to put an end to Ohka’s attempted coup d’etat but he has a coup d’etat of his own to do. He wants a singles match with Dino and he wants it in Korakuen Hall next month. Dino objected. This year is DDT’s 20th year in existence. If a coup of this size is going to happen it should happen on the big stage. Dino Vs Takagi should happen at Sumo Hall! Takagi hesitated to accept the challenge. He said he tries to avoid putting himself in the major singles matches at DDT’s big events. Dino said that he’s been preparing for this match for a long time. Takagi said he’s been prepared for the last 20 years. He accepts the match. Takagi Vs Dino at Sumo Hall to celebrate 20 years of DDT!

The CD release of NωA’s new single is coming out at a bad time because they just lost the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles to Shuten-dōji. KUDO knocked down Makoto Oishi with a Backspin Kick, Yukio Sakaguchi hit an Apron PK to the other NωA members and Masahiro Takanashi gave Oishi the Takatonic to win the belts. NωA are trying to stay positive and hope success at the NOAH Jr. Tag League will see an increase in autographs and CD sales. Meanwhile Shuten-dōji already found out what their plans for Sumo Hall is. They will defend the titles against Dick Togo, Yasu Urano & Antonio Honda!

The opening match was The Rockies Vs The Italians, except Soma Takao wanted nothing to do with Hirata Collection A.T.’s shenanigans. Toru Owashi however came out wearing Collection gear and carrying a toy pig on a leash. He looked just as surprised as everyone else. The Rockies all came out wearing boxing gloves and humming along to the Rocky song. Antonio Honda said he spent all night drinking raw eggs then tried to eye poke his opponents. It didn’t work because of the gloves. Honda later intercepted Hirata’s glasses. The Rocky theme played proper when he put them on. The music boost was powerful enough for The Rockies to win the match. Rocky Kawamura yelled “Adrian!” to celebrate.

Both Tomomitsu Matsunaga and Danny Duggan had the back of their wrestling tights pulled down during the dark match. Both of them continued to wrestle with their backsides exposed.

Takaeshita was supposed to start off the show’s opening call but he was interrupted by Naomi Yoshimura. Of course he ran down all of his life problems which he blames Takeshita for then began the next chapter of his story. After his grandmother was arrested and his favourite restaurant had closed down, Yoshimura was alone in the world with absolutely nothing in his possession. Life was so bad he had to resort to thievery everyday. This continued until one day Yoshimura walked past a muscular man carrying a bag of money. He grabbed the bag off of him and ran as fast as he could. He thought he would escape until he saw someone standing ahead of him at the intersection. It was Konosuke Takeshita! Yoshimura was so surprised and enraged at the sight of Takeshita that he stopped in his tracks. The police chasing after him then caught him. Yoshimura thought his life was over until a voice from behind told the police to let him go if he gave back the bag. Yoshimura looked over and saw that the muscular man showing him mercy was Zeus! From that day onwards, Yoshimura trained hard at KING GYM so he could follow Zeus’s path and become a pro wrestler. Zeus, this god-like being, gave Yoshimura’s life meaning while all Takeshita had done was take everything away from him. Not only will he use his Right To Challenge contract to take the KO-D Title away from Takeshita, he will also take everything Takeshita values one by one. First up, the show opening call! Yoshimura smugly yelled “DDT Korakuen Tournament Start!” into the microphone. Takeshita tried asking Yoshimura when he was going to cash in his title shot but his microphone cut off so the intro video could be played.

Two new DNA trainees were introduced. Masato Kamino is 23 years old and from the Nara Prefecture. He is 175cm high, weighs 82kg and trained as a swimmer for 15 years. He will debut in Shinjuku on 5th August. He originally began training at the same time as MAO but an injury held him back. Kamino had considered transitioning into a ring announcing job instead but was determined to debut as a wrestler. Yuki Ino is 22 years old and from Tokyo. He is 178cm high, weighs 120kg and played rugby in Kokushikan University. He had several offers from other sports teams but DDT became interested when they heard he could bench press 205kg, dead lift 300kg and leg press 560kg. Ino said when he played rugby he blew past every opponent that was in front of his eyes. He would like to do the same to all of the best wrestlers. His goal is to win the KO-D Title. He will debut at Sumo Hall.

The show began with a 10 bell tribute to Mr. Pogo who passed away on 23rd June. Pogo once appeared at a DDT Street Wrestling show held in an iron factory back in 2014. He had also made appearances for Union Pro in 2006.

LiLiCo will return to DDT at “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017”.

DDT will return to the Delicious Sacas Festival in July for a week long series of free shows. This year’s festival takes place from 24th to 30th July

Dave Crist from Rockstar Pro Wrestling in Ohio, USA will be a part of the Beer Garden shows in August. Irie became good friends with Crist during his American excursions. Irie’s “Space Panda” aesthetic is a shoutout to Crist and his other Ohio buddies.

Rekka Vs MAO will be the main event of DDT’s return to Taiwan on 29th July.